Poor sportsmanship: When an English bowler did a Suraj Randiv

Remember Suraj Randiv of Sri Lanka. Randiv is famous for bowling a deliberate no-ball to deny Indian opener Virender Sehwag a much-deserved century in an ODI in 2010. Randiv, who bowled the no-ball on the suggestion of TM Dilshan, left Sehwag stranded on 99. India needed one run to win and Sehwag a run to score ton. But Randiv bowled a no-ball although Sehwag slammed a six. The no-ball gave India a win and Sehwag was denied a ton.

Something similar happened in Somerset Cricket League recently. A Purnell CC bowler, who is lucky to be not named in the media for his poor sportsman’s spirit, has chucked the ball for a boundary to concede five runs and the match against Minehead and leave the opposition batsman Jay Darrell stranded on 98 not out.

The bowler was handed a nine-match ban for his poor sportsmanship.

Somerset Cricket League said it “brought the SCL and cricket in general into disrepute” and “was against the spirit of the game”.

However, the captain of Purnell apologized to the batsman on behalf of the bowler. Darrell was quoted as saying, “shame the way it ended but oh well”.

Purnell were critical of the poor sportsman spirit. Their official account posted a statement that read, “The unsavoury scenes to end the game can’t be condoned.”